This is such an amazing restoration and photographic journey. Thanks for sharing this with the community! I've been feeling bummed out due to my project taking so long and my second engine rebuild... but looking through this thread was a real pick me up! Especially the pics at the end with the cherry blossoms and you and your spouse! Truly a story with a happy ending.. or perhaps a happy new beginning (for the little 360)

I had a lot of fun building this car, and even though it'll never be officially done, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. We took the car out again for a few summer shots in a Yukata. Unfortunately, the camera had a water spot on the lens that we didn't notice until it was too late. Still, we got some pretty good shots!

We headed out to some rice fields near where I live to get these. My goal was to try and find a place that looks like it could be straight out of the 1970s.

My lovely girlfriend put on a very nice Yukata this time around!

It was awfully bright out though, haha.

If you look really close you can see me getting a little fat around the midsection...

Thank you David, it has been a journey that we have all enjoyed immensley. I don't think there are many build threads on the internet that to compare both in care and attention to detail, not to mention the passion that fills every reader with new found confidence to make their nostalgic dreams a reality.

A very well done.

I must add I absolutly love these 2 pictures;

I don't think the symbolism could have been captured any more perfectly.

Thank you David, it has been a journey that we have all enjoyed immensley. I don't think there are many build threads on the internet that to compare both in care and attention to detail, not to mention the passion that fills every reader with new found confidence to make their nostalgic dreams a reality.

A very well done.

I must add I absolutely love these 2 pictures;

I don't think the symbolism could have been captured any more perfectly.

Thank you for having us all along on your journey

Dave,

I know a lot of blood, sweat and tears went into the 360. Blossom aside, the very edge of that hood is quite the symbol.

Looking at the first post, I was very disappointed as to how you could have passed up two of my favorite cars sitting in that field in favor for an old roller skate.

Having skipped over the entire build (or whatever lies between pages 2-16) I can now see where you were going with your selection. I believe it was the shot looking past the dash that got my attention. Very well done, sir! I'll go back and see how it got to this point, now.

As a guy who has know David longer than knowing him in person (online car club first), I can say his work and work ethic is top notch. I can also say that after riding in the 360 and briefly driving it, this car gives nothing but smiles. Although his March EK10 is quick and fun, hearing that unique rasp of the 360 engine coming down the street to pick me up at the train station always made me feel excited.

Nice work man. I'll be giving you a hand when I get down to Nag again.

I was at Classic Car Nagoya this morning doing my usual work when one of the 5 cars the Shacho has recently purchased showed up. Lucky me in that it was the little truck you see below! I absolutely had to pull my 360 up alongside it for some photos.

It's an older model than mine which is why the body lines are a bit different and the front grille is less... shiny.

This particular truck is also missing the rings that go around the headlights, which help complete the grille.

From the back, well, it's just awesome!

As it's an older molder, the interior is very different. Firstly, it's got a floor shift, something I wish I had (being 6' 3" means that 2nd, 4th and reverse on my column shift ram straight into my knee). It's also got just one gauge, a speedometer. Not sure how you're supposed to know when you're low on gas other than counting the kilometers traveled. It's all worth it for the turn signal lever and the high/low beam lever though.

It's a little tighter inside than mine, but not by much. Leg room is about the same and head room is only slightly less. I could totally drive this with ease though, which is saying something considering how big I am. The seat adjusts by loosening up a wing nut and sliding it back and forth!

I'm fairly certain it has the ME21 engine as it is lacking an oil tank for the oil injection system on the ME24 (which means you gotta pre-mix it), so it only makes 17 hp as opposed to my 21. The engine bay was a bit gross and needed some serious love but I was told that if you hooked a battery up to it and said a few sweet words it would fire right up and run fine.

The carb is most definitely a different model, although still a Mikuni.

It does have quiet possibly the coolest emblem I've seen on a classic Mitsubishi though!

There was also this epic emblem stuck to the back as well!

It needs a little love (a complete restore would probably be best to nip the cancer growing on the fenders) but it's a very solid base and seeing the two cars together just automatically makes me smile!

I don't know what it is, but something about these little Mitsubishi is just so awesome! I would love to pick up this truck and give it the love it needs, but I don't think my wallet could handle it (especially considering I've got another project coming in very soon).

One of the things that has been bothering me the absolute most about this car is the mirrors. I cobbled them together from the original mirror stalks and some random Mazda glass. They're nonadjustable and generally useless. Plus, one was cracked. So, when I bought my Honda Life, the guy I bought it from delivered it in person. When he got here, he looked over the Bellett and Mitsubishi with enthusiasm. I told him about my mirror woes and he said "I might have a pair of original mirrors in my shop." Since I've been searching for a pair of original mirrors for about 2 years now, I jumped all over his offer.

Just last night I receive this box in the mail.

Crack it open and excellent!

Installed on the car.

It was night time when I got them yesterday, so as soon as I get some time at home in the daylight, I roll her out for some better, proper pictures.

The shaken (Japanese version of vehicle inspection) on the Mitsu expires on the 23rd of this month (ie. Thursday). Normally I would just renew the inspection and go on my merry way of enjoying the old girl. However, I'm planning on having the car shipped to the states (along with a Mazda Carol for a friend). So that means that this last weekend was the last weekend I'd get to drive the car in Japan! It didn't dawn on me until we already had the car out for our usual weekend sprint around town. So, my fiancée smartly whipped out her phone and grabbed a few pictures of us driving about.

Unfortunately, it's tight inside the cabin so it was hard to grab a picture worthy of posting.

And yes, the little omamori hanging from the mirror will be going with the car on it's long journey to the states!

I'm going to miss driving the old girl on the weekends, but we'll meet again in the states! I'll keep this thread updated as I go through the motions of shipping both cars.

How come you are shipping back to the states? Are you guys planning on moving back over here soon? Either way, at least you will still own it and still be able to enjoy it over here. Hope the shipping goes well for you.

There are two main reasons we're shipping the Mitsubishi back. The first of which is that I'm in desperate need of clearing out some space to make room for the Mazda Cosmo (Link here). The second is that we are intending to move back sometime next year, assuming we can manage to scrounge enough money together to ship everything back. Moving is tough, moving 6,000 miles is tough and expensive, haha.

So, this last weekend I realized that it was the last weekend that I'd be driving the Mitsubishi in Japan, so I snapped a few pictures with my cellphone and posted them up. Well, upon reflection that was about the worst send off I could have given this car. It deserved far better. So, yesterday, we grabbed the camera after I got home from work and set out to get some real pictures!

This is the main reason we'll not be driving it in Japan again. My inspection expires today and there's no sense reinspecting it when we're planning on shipping it so soon.

She's always a little smokey on first start. After a few minutes she clears right up though.

One quick look under the hood to make sure everything is still in tip top shape.

And then we set off! I have a few destinations in mind so we hit our first stop, some rice fields a few streets over.

Then we set off again. We both took turns driving making sure to enjoy the old girl to the fullest.

Then we came upon the most important destination for the old girl there is, the old field where I originally found the Mitsubishi. I was pretty surprised to see that it's been cleaned up, covered in gravel and filled with sad old nostalgics. It's probably a good thing it wasn't like this years ago.

I jumped back behind the wheel and we set off for more pictures before the sun set.

Our next stop was this tiny lake that's hiding out in the middle of a massive city.

One of my favorite pictures of the car!

Off to the next stop!

Our final stop was on the other side of the lake just as the sun was setting.

Miki, enjoying the sunset in the most superhero way possible!

The sky gets a little pink as the sun finally dips behind the trees.

This has been one of the most entertaining cars I've ever owned and I've truly loved every minute with her. She's always run like a champ and never given me any trouble. I'm going to miss cruising around the back roads of Japan in her, but I think she'll love the back roads of Texas just as much!

Thank you guys fall the comments and inspiration throughout the whole build! The next time I drop behind the wheel, it'll be in sunny Texas!

There are two main reasons we're shipping the Mitsubishi back. The first of which is that I'm in desperate need of clearing out some space to make room for the Mazda Cosmo (Link here). The second is that we are intending to move back sometime next year, assuming we can manage to scrounge enough money together to ship everything back. Moving is tough, moving 6,000 miles is tough and expensive, haha.

Cheers,David

I definitely understand where your coming from. You always have new projects popping up too lol.

Oh and yes, THAT was a proper send off! Thank you for the great pictures.

Alright, when we last left off, I had just taken it for a final test drive. Well, since then things have slowly been progressing. First though, a little background.

I was having trouble getting a company to work with me for shipping the Mitsubishi back. No one would either deal with personal shipments (businesses only) or would go to the US at all. Understandable since the US has some of the strictest and most convoluted importation laws out there. As luck would have it though, a nice gentleman from the States got in touch with me about shipping a car back for him. We struck up a deal that if he could help find me a company that could ship back, I would help locate him a car and coerce it back into drivable condition to be able to ship home.

He was plenty happy with that deal and ended up purchasing the little gem in the center of this photo (the car on the right is obviously the Mitsubishi and the one on the left is my daily driver Honda Life).

Yup, a 1968 Mazda Carol 360. It needed quite a bit of work and that's a build thread all in its own, haha. Regardless, here's a few more pictures of the car because I think it's just such a cool looking little car (on the left in this picture).

And Miki wanted to give the Sepia filter on her camera a try.

At any rate, while I was slowly working on the Mazda Carol, the gentleman in the States and my lovely fiancee were organizing the shipping. We got everything ready to go and at the last minute, the Carol decided it was tired of functioning. We had already rented the tow truck though, so on a Saturday morning, we decided to go ahead and tow the Mitsubishi down to the shipping yard (I worked like mad Saturday and Sunday to get the Carol back on the nice side of functioning and we managed to get it to the yard on Monday morning, just in time to make the ship).

This is the last time the Mitsubishi would be backed out of this garage!

And, on to the truck!

Our good friend Chiho was there to help us get everything loaded up properly!

Mixed emotions here. I can't wait to be able to drive it in Texas, but I feel like I'm sending a child of mine off on their first overseas trip all alone where god knows what will happen.

Strapping it all down.

Miki gives it a loving pat.

And we're on the way!

And we're there! (In reality it was an extremely uneventful hour long drive.)

Unloading.

Once in the yard a very enthusiastic old man came ambling over to check it out (not pictured). He loved the car and could remember them when they were still pretty new. He also knew just how rare of a car it was. We stood back and chatted while the man below circled the car doing a radiation check (which he did by holding a geiger counter in each wheel well, under the hood and in the interior).

After having to tell him where the frame number was hidden (on the metal just below the rear seat), there was some short paperwork to double check and then we were done! I gave the old girl one last hug!

Bye baby, see you in Texas!

And that's that. The boat is scheduled to depart on the 31st of this month and arrive in Galveston on the 28 of next month. It should spend about a week in customs and then my dad will drive down to the port, load both cars onto a trailer and tow them on back to his place. I'll make sure he takes lots of pictures for me!

Thanks again for all the inspiration and wonderful comments guys! If everything goes smoothly, the next pictures of the car should be of it half way around the world, which will be a trip since I don't think the car has ever left the Aichi area.